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Point-of-sale (“POS”) controller

  • US 9,262,756 B2
  • Filed: 01/01/2013
  • Issued: 02/16/2016
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/01/2013
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A point-of-sale (“

  • POS”

    ) system comprising;

    a merchant POS controller that controls transmission of a first plurality and a second plurality of credit card transactions captured by a POS terminal at a merchant location;

    an issuer transaction processing system that determines authorization for the first and second plurality of credit card transactions;

    a surcharge engine that interfaces between the merchant POS controller and the issuer transaction processing system;

    wherein;

    the POS controller receives the first plurality of credit card transactions captured by the POS terminal and transmits the first plurality of credit card transactions to the issuer transaction processing system;

    the surcharge engine is configured to intercept the credit card transactions before the first plurality of credit card transactions are received by the issuer transaction processing system;

    in response to intercepting the first plurality of credit card transactions, the surcharge engine performs a computer-implemented method for dynamically controlling a flow of transaction information between the authorization engine and the merchant POS controller, the method comprising;

    intercepting the first plurality of credit card transactions transmitted by the POS controller, each transaction in the first plurality of credit card transactions comprising;

    a surcharge amount imposed by the merchant POS controller; and

    a payment instrument;

    determining a correlation between the surcharge amount, the payment instrument and a change in a performance metric;

    determining a transaction cost directive based on the correlation, the transaction cost directive requesting that the issuer transaction processing system lower a transaction cost imposed on the merchant for authorizing the second plurality of credit card transactions;

    transmitting the transaction cost directive to the issuer transaction processing system;

    receiving, from the issuer transaction processing system, a transaction cost adjustment in response to the transaction cost directive, wherein, the transaction cost adjustment lowers the transaction cost imposed on the merchant by the issuer transaction processing system for authorizing the second plurality of credit card transactions;

    determining, based on the transaction cost adjustment, an adjusted surcharge amount;

    determining a surcharge directive based on the correlation, the surcharge directive requesting that the merchant POS controller lower the surcharge amount to less than the adjusted surcharge amount;

    transmitting the surcharge directive to the merchant POS controller;

    in response to transmitting the surcharge directive, receiving a withdrawal notice confirming that the merchant POS controller has lowered the surcharge amount to less than the adjusted surcharge amount;

    transmitting the lowered surcharge amount to the issuer transaction processing system;

    receiving authorization for the lowered surcharge amount from the issuer transaction processing system; and

    transmitting the authorization for the lowered surcharge amount to the merchant POS controller; and

    in response to receiving the authorization, the merchant POS controller configures the POS terminal to impose the lowered surcharge amount on the second plurality of credit card transactions.

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